Let Fear Win
by HecateA
Summary: Helena Ravenclaw's life was ruined by a man who thought he was in love, and now she senses their potential to harm young students like a stench. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **This story came out of nowhere, yes. But a friend started talking about Snape and Lily's dynamic, and all of a sudden I refuse to believe there were no warning signs before the Mudblood incident.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #7, Voodoo Magic, Task #5 Write about a conversation with a ghost

**Warnings: **Mentions and allusions to violence against women and toxic relationships (canon)

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**Let Fear Win **

I could go on talking or I could stop

Wring out each memory til' I get every drop

Sift through the details of the others involved

The true crime would be thinking it's just one persons fault

-_Things Happen_, Dawes

Lily shut the door and leaned against it. She tilted her head back, eyes closed, and pushed her bangs away. It was all she could do not to sink down onto the floor. She could barely envision opening her eyes and looking at the world again. Thankfully, the huffing snapped her back to reality and left her face-to-face with the ghost before her. The woman had once been tall with high cheekbones and noble features that demanded a rigid posture and a head held high. Her hair fell to her waist and her cloak shone a darker silver than those around her.

"Sorry, ma'am," Lily breathed quickly. "Sorry I, I didn't mean to intrude, I… I know that ghosts have spaces and territories in the castle and that they're yours, I just, I just needed a place and…"

She stopped herself. The Ravenclaw's ghost wasn't known to be the chatty type—though Marlene McKinnon had once told Lily and Remus during their study sessions that she spoke to the Ravenclaws. Lily wasn't one, though.

"Sorry," she repeated quickly. She figured that no matter what the ghost did next, it was better than having stayed outside in that hallway with the rest of the crowd. The thought made her feel horrible.

"Nobody's called me ma'am in some time," the ghost said finally.

"Sorry," Lily repeated.

"No," she said. She turned her head and measured up Lily with a side glance. "It's quite nice. Not many students pay attention to the usual coming and goings of ghosts..."

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing girl, it's disgraceful when you've done nothing wrong," the ghost said.

"So you don't mind me being here?" Lily asked, looking around at the astronomy department's storage room. There was something mystical and eerie about the silver instruments and boxes of second hand telescopes lining the walls and the shelves that split the room up.

"You are quite clearly hiding from something," the ghost said. She arched an eyebrow. "Perhaps somebody..."

"It sounds awful when you put it that way," Lily said. She chewed on her pinky finger's knuckle, mulling this information over. When she caught herself and her nervous habit, she dropped her hand. "Horrible, when you say it like that… I shouldn't be afraid."

"I have seen things," the ghost said solemnly. Now, she looked at Lily directly and the weight of her gaze felt sharp enough to slice Lily's skin off and leave her bare. "Many things which have taught me to respect fear."

Lily took a deep breath.

"He's meant to be my friend," Lily said.

"That happens," the ghost said quietly.

"You're not meant to be afraid of your friends, are you?" Lily said quietly. Now, she was aware that she was back to chewing her knuckle. "But he's been… he's been different, he's been readings books nobody should be interested in, talking to people who are different, talking differently, who… my friend is different. But he's still my friend—different shouldn't be scary, different just means different, and I should… I know what people say, but I should stand by him. And he's been getting in fights and here I am, just ducking into astronomy storage rooms to avoid him, to get away from being alone with him, but that's senseless, I don't have any real reason to be afraid of him..."

"I would let the fear win, girl," the ghost said solemnly. "It is there for a reason. The moment you find yourself questioning whether or not you are safe, the answer is no. People change on one another, girl. Men change, too. And they are allowed to do it far too liberally."

Lily looked at her, shocked.

"Trust me girl, I have seen things," the ghost repeated. "I have seen things and lived through things and there are others that I did not survive. I have no idea who this boy is and frankly, I do not care. Be afraid, girl. But overall, be clever. And take care."

The ghost looked around at the astronomy storage room and then back at Lily.

"This space is your space," she said. "But tell another soul I let you in here and you'll be one of us. I will not even ask if I have made myself clear."

And with that, the ghost disappeared, leaving Lily alone.

Quite alone, really.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): ** Misunderstood; Gryffindor MC; Ravenclaw MC; Seeds; No Proof; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Friendship); Themes & Things B (Survival); Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **761

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_**Fall Bingo**_

**Space Address (Prompt): **2E (Ghost/Specter)


End file.
